


Something Worth Searching For

by KrazzeeAJ1701



Series: The Doctor and the Pathfinder [4]
Category: Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: Ambiguous Relationships, Gen, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-29
Updated: 2018-12-29
Packaged: 2019-09-29 21:33:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,745
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17211347
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KrazzeeAJ1701/pseuds/KrazzeeAJ1701
Summary: Elliot and Co search the Hyperion crash site for a certain doctor.





	Something Worth Searching For

**Author's Note:**

> I was playing ME:A a few days ago and I realized why Meridian bothered me so much. There's no Harry. I also don't like that small time jump that we do. So, this is me adding a scene.

Elliot sucked in a breath when she saw it. She knew that Ark Hyperion’s landing was actually a controlled crash, but her brain refused to let her think of how bad it could be. Captain Dunn had been in the least protected part of the ship when it went down, and she was okay, so Elliot had all but convinced herself that it couldn't be too bad. Boy was she ever wrong.

The ship that they called home had made landfall on the edge of a picturesque cliff. Surrounded by all kinds of trees, plants and rocks, Hyperion was somehow out of place and in the right place at the same time. The Pathfinder couldn't help but wonder what the plan would be going forward or, worse yet, if the council would just throw that decision her way too.

As the shuttle dropped her team next to one of the emergency hatches near the flight deck, Elliot glanced at Liam and Cora. Usually, she wouldn't take them both on a mission. As her first and second officers, she preferred leaving one of them on the Tempest whenever she was off ship, just in case. Since Hyperion meant as much to them as it did to her, she thought it was only right to bring them both along.

“Signs of battle, Pathfinder,” Liam said quietly just outside the bridge. If the scorched metal and spent thermal clips didn’t give it away, the handful of bodies -both human and kett- certainly told their own story.

The ship was docked on the Nexus right up until it wasn’t. While she didn’t know all of these officers personally, she did know the value they all placed on the thousands of lives still in the cryobay. It was clear to her that they tried to retake control of the Hyperion.

“They held on until the last,” Elliot muttered as a sense of dread came over her.

The Archon showed up, laid waste to anyone in his way, and took her brother and their captain hostage. Even though he didn’t want to be on the front lines anymore, Harry is not the kind of person to watch people get slaughtered. He sure as hell wouldn’t let anything happen to Elias, not after the promise he made to keep an eye on her brother. However, the deeper they moved into the damaged vessel, the more Elliot feared that one of these bodies might belong to Harry.

“I’m sure Doctor Carlyle is okay, Ryder,” SAM said over their private channel.

“I hope you’re right, SAM. I really do,” she told the AI.

While her relationship with the doctor was ambiguous as hell, their respect, and even love, for each other wasn’t a secret. Since SAM was literally in her head, he knew just how much she cared for Harry. Which also meant that SAM knew just how worried she was, especially since the doctor wasn’t responding to comms.

Catching movement out the corner of her eye, Elliot motioned to her team and pointed her rifle towards the figure crouched behind a console. “Come out.”

“You have no idea how glad I am to see you,” Dunn said as she stood, lowering her pistol.

“You okay, Nozomi?” Elliot asked, relaxing her stance and pointing her weapon away from her friend.

“I’ve had better days, that’s for sure,” the captain said with a chuckle.

While many of the Initiative’s personnel didn’t understand the toll that leadership in the unknown can take on someone, Dunn was one of the few who did. And unlike Tann and the rest of the council, the Hyperion’s captain had no desire to deal with the politics. Elliot found herself, on more than one occasion, seeking Dunn’s advice because, while the captain never fully agreed with how the Initiative used the Pathfinders, she did have faith in Elliot, even when Elliot didn’t have faith in herself.

“Why are you still up here?” Cora asked before Elliot could. Knowing Dunn as well as she did, she knew that the other woman would make a play for the cryobay as soon as she was able.

“Checking this level to see if it was clear. When the Archon grabbed Elias, he left a rear guard. Getting around them with limited ammo and no back up isn’t the easiest task,” Dunn told them. Nozomi was tough as nails but she wasn’t stupid; one officer with a pistol against some armed and armored kett soldiers could only end badly.

“And you figured that we’d have to come in this way,” Liam assumed, to which Dunn nodded.

“You have any idea how many?” the Pathfinder asked.

“No more than a dozen or two, if I had to guess. Less if they made a play for cryo. I made Carlyle fall back when they grabbed Eli and he wasn’t happy about it. If any kett crossed his path, they’re dead,” the captain said, knowingly. Okay, so maybe SAM wasn’t the only one who knew how worried their Pathfinder was.

“There’s nothing as scary as Harry when he’s pissed off,” Elliot agreed, sharing a look with the ship’s captain.

Harry was probably the only person who could get away with telling either of them what to do; “doctor’s orders” he’d say. If you’re smart, you just do as he asks. Defying a medical directive from the former Alliance officer was more dangerous then fighting a whole squad of those Remnant worm things. Even her late father knew better than to ignore the doctor’s advice, and N7s aren’t scared of anything.

“Guess we better see how the doc fared,” Liam said with a smirk. Elliot nodded her agreement as she handed Dunn a few of her spare thermal clips and Cora boosted the Captain’s shields. There was no point in asking her to sit this one out, she’d tell them no and tag along anyway.

“Liam, cover our six. Dunn, left side,” Elliot ordered. The four of them fell into formation and continued their search of the ship.

“How did this happen?” Cora asked quietly as they made their way through the maintenance corridor. “The Nexus’ location is classified. And there’s no way someone just let him onto the ship.”

“Technically, I did,” Elliot said with a sigh. “When he said he got everything from that memory scan, he really got everything. I’ve never felt so violated in my life. Which says something when you consider that my dad shoved a self-aware AI in my head.”

She had warned Tann about the ramifications of the mission on the Archon’s ship, but he obviously didn’t consider that enough of a problem to change any of her access codes. Between everything the Archon learned from the Salarian Ark and from her, she was honestly surprised there wasn’t more damage. While the kett couldn’t do anything to the Nexus, Elliot’s clearance was only so high on the station, the Hyperion was fair game. If need be, Elliot could override Dunn and take command, which is obviously what the Archon did.

“He used your Pathfinder authorization to disembark from the station and lock me out,” Dunn surmised. The captain filled them in on the system lockdown that immediately preceded the Archon’s takeover of ship, and of SAM.

“He was smart, in a dumb kind of way,” Elliot said as they posted up on either side of the door that lead to the main corridor around the corner from medical. Taking a deep breath, she hit the command for the door to open.

Stepping through first, the Pathfinder was greeted by a squad of kett, dead at her feet. It was a kill zone, a rapidly put together kill zone, but a kill zone none the less. Hitting the command for the next door, a series of shots were fired at her. None of them penetrated her shields and her barrier, but still.

“Hold your fire,” a very familiar voice called out. “It’s the Pathfinder.”

“Sorry,” someone muttered but she could care less. Her focus was on her favorite doctor. Other than a few scrapes and the obvious signs of stress and exhaustion, he looked fine.

“Harry.” Elliot let out the breath she didn’t realize she was holding. Crossing the corridor as quickly as she could without running, she made her way to him. “You’re okay.”

“Nothing a little medi-gel and a shower won’t cure,” he said with a smile, holstering his sidearm and motioning for the group of mostly medical staff to do the same. “Are you okay?”

“I’m not entirely sure, to be honest with you.” When the Archon severed her link to SAM, it wreaked all kinds of havoc on her brain. Even though the connection was reestablished, Lexi was concerned that there may be permanent neurological damage. Elliot was sure that both doctors were going to torture in an attempt to figure out just how bad the damage might be. “I’m alive. I guess that’s a start.” She reached out towards the gash above his eye. “You’re hurt.”

“Oh, please. You do worse than this drinking with Drack,” Harry teased, grabbing her armored hand with one of his own. “Archon’s dead, I take it.”

“He came after my family,” she said with a shrug, not letting him go. While most would assume that she was just talking about Eli, Harry knew that he, Dunn and maybe even SAM fell into that category too. “You sure you’re alright? SAM’s been calling you since we took control of Meridian.”

“Ditched my omni-tool. That scan the Archon did of your memory made me as much of a target as Dunn and your brother.” Well, at least someone heeded her warning about the Archon having her memories. “Once he grabbed Eli, there was no way to know which side SAM was on. No offense, SAM.”

“No offense taken, Doctor. Yours was the most logical course of action,” the AI replied.

“That doesn’t explain the dead squad out there, Doc,” Liam pointed out.

“They came after my family,” Harry said, his eyes focused on Elliot, before he -reluctantly- let her hand go and took a step back. “I have a bunch of people in there that could use a functional medbay, Pathfinder.”

“Well, I have a bunch of people outside who can help with that, Doctor.” Elliot smiled. As much as she’d love to stand here and stare at Harry, they had a lot of work to do. “SAM, clear Reyes to bring those shuttles around.”


End file.
